Author: artful words

If you have ever wondered about when it’s right to say “may” and when to use “might”, you may find this article interesting. Then again, you might not. Either way, let’s investigate.

Both “may” and “might” are modal auxiliary verbs. This means they accompany other verbs and indicate inclination, intention, potential, necessity, actuality, ability, and so on. For example:

I might have already confused you suggests the potential that I have caused confusion.
You may disagree with this implies that this outcome is not absolute or certain.

In these examples, the words “might” and “may” could be switched without causing a significant shift in meaning:

I may have confused you.
You might disagree.

Indeed, when referring to possibility or permission, these two verbs are often used interchangeably, but there is a subtle difference between them. In most cases, “may” infers a higher likelihood of something, whereas “might” implies that it is less probable.

There are, however, other instances when either “may” or “might” is more correct, so here is a hopefully helpful though by no means definitive guide to choosing between them.

Use “may”

• when granting or refusing permission (You may speak, but you may not leave)
• when expressing a hope or wish (May you be well)
• to concede a point (Be that as it may, I couldn’t possibly agree)
• to acknowledge something before putting forward an opposing opinion (You may find this boring, but it is useful to know).

Use “might”

• as the past tense form of may (Perhaps I might have explained that better)
• when referring to hypothetical situations (If I wrote a musical about apostrophes, it might delight audiences)
• when talking about things that did not happen, to avoid confusion with “may have” when it means to give permission (compare I might not have thought that musical idea through properly with I may not do that, noting that the former expresses the possibility of my not doing something, while the latter implies that I am not allowed to do it)
• to indicate irritation over something someone could have or should have done (You might have warned me).

Use either

• when referring to possibility or expressing uncertainty about events in the present or future (keeping in mind that “may” generally suggests something is more likely, and “might” implies it is less so)
• when politely making a request or seeking permission (noting that “might” is more formal, as in Might I trouble you for a cup of tea?)
• to indicate an intention (I explain this so you may understand it better or so you might understand it better).

It is important to note that while “might” is the past tense of “may”, many grammarians argue that either word is acceptable when referring to past actions and events, but only if the truth about those actions and event is unknown. I could therefore say:

I may have inspired you to learn more about language after reading this article, or
I might have inspired you to learn more about language after reading this article.

Much as I hope that I have inspired you, I do not know if this is true, so both sentences may be considered correct. When talking about events that definitely did not happen, however, “might” is the better choice:

I might have been a famous writer of musicals, but I became an editor instead.

Now that I’ve (maybe) explained the nuances of “may” and “might”, I’m off to find a word that rhymes with “apostrophe”.

You never know. I might find one.

Despite their demure demeanour, commas can be perplexing. They pop up where they’re not needed, and their absence can cause confusion and misreading. One source of uncertainty about commas is their use around names. Sometimes they are required and sometimes not, but once you understand the principles at play, you will find it easier to determine when to include them.

Commas are used around names in two main ways. The first is a comma of address, and it appears when a name or a noun or phrase that stands in for a name is used in a sentence. Here are a few examples.

It’s a pleasure to see you, Emily.
Dear lady, can you help me?
It is clear, Irene, that our adventures are just beginning.

As the first two examples show, only one comma is needed when the name or phrase appears at the start or end of the sentence. If it occurs elsewhere, however, it is separated from the rest of the sentence by a pair of commas.

While the comma of address might seem like a petty point of punctuation, it can be necessary to establish clarity. Compare the following two statements.

I don’t know, Dorothy.
I don’t know Dorothy.

In the first instance, the comma before ‘Dorothy’ shows that she is the person being addressed. I am telling Dorothy that I don’t know something. In the second case, where no comma appears, Dorothy is the object of the sentence. She is the thing I don’t know. The presence or absence of the comma of address alters the meaning of the sentence. That is why it is vital to understand when and how to use it. Fortunately, it is easy to learn this.

If someone or something is being addressed in a sentence, then a comma or pair of commas is necessary. But if someone or something is the object of the sentence—the thing to which an action is done—then no commas are required.

The second way that commas can appear around names is in an appositive sense. Grammatically, an appositive is a noun or phrase that gives additional information about another noun or phrase in the same sentence and serves the same function as it. The information can be essential or extra, and this is what determines whether or not commas are needed.

If the information is essential, no commas are necessary. If it is extra, it needs commas.

Think of it like this: essential information must be part of the sentence in order for the meaning to be conveyed. Extra information can be removed from the sentence, and the meaning would remain the same. The bit that is extra, but not essential, gets framed by commas.

Let’s see how this rule relates to names.

Author Bella Li won the prize for poetry with her book Argosy.
A published poet, Bella Li, will be in attendance.
My sister Leanne loves lemurs.
My brother, Bertie, bites bananas.

The name ‘Bella Li’ is essential information in the first example. Without it, the sentence reads as ‘Author won the prize for poetry’. Not very meaningful. In the second sentence, the subject is ‘A published poet’, and the name of the poet is an extra detail. As such, it is enclosed by commas. If the name were removed, the sentence would still make sense: ‘A published poet will be in attendance.’

In the final two examples, the use of commas may seem inconsistent. Why should Bertie get them around his name when Leanne does not for hers? The answer, as before, is that ‘Leanne’ is essential information and ‘Bertie’ is extra.

The absence of commas from the phrase ‘my sister Leanne’ means that I have more than one sister, so it is essential that I use her name in the sentence to identify which of my sisters loves lemurs. In contrast, the commas around ‘Bertie’ indicate that the information being given is the same as in the noun phrase ‘My brother’ that is appositive to it. By saying ‘My brother’ and ‘Bertie’, I am repeating the same thing, and I am also signalling that I have only one brother.

Just in case this is all sounding too straightforward, let me point out that distinguishing the essential from the extra is not always simple. Returning to the first of our examples above, we may ponder whether a comma is required before the title ‘Argosy’. On the one hand, the sentence ‘Author Bella Li won the prize for poetry with her book’ is arguably meaningful. The title could be considered as extra information, thus requiring a comma to be added before it. But don’t we need to know which book won? Wouldn’t that make the title essential information?

Furthermore, using the same logic as we applied in the last two examples, the omission of the comma suggests that Argosy is not Bella Li’s only book. (It’s not, as it happens.) If it were, the terms ‘book’ and ‘Argosy’ would mean the same thing, and a comma would be required to separate them.

So is the comma before the title necessary or not?

I leave that for you to decide, my friends, with a gentle reminder that although punctuation is often prescriptive and sometimes perplexing, it is also more subjective than you might think.